Gone and Nearly Forgotten
by floatingxworld
Summary: A brief examination of the events that led to Elizabeth's demise. Written for fictactoe 1.7 the road to hell is paved with good intentions.


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"You forgot me."

Elizabeth had no idea how things had gotten this far. It had been such a simple decision at first, how could she let Walter carry on with his plan? It was cruel to let her see him and then expect her to let Peter go again.

Peter had been her everything. The sun rose and set for Peter as far as Elizabeth cared. When he had first gotten ill, she had placed her faith in modern medicine. Surely doctors would cure her baby angel.

When medicine had failed she had placed her faith in science. Walter would develop a cure for Peter. Her husband was a brilliant scientist and loved their son as much as she did. What better motivation could there be?

As Peter became more and more ill, she had placed her faith in God. How could God take her darling boy away from her? He simply would not – no, could not, God would deliver a miracle.

When God failed her, Elizabeth cried. The death of her only child was a betrayal. She had been betrayed by medicine, science, her husband and God.

Her precious Peter, her only child, was dressed in his best, a fine suit and red tie, to be returned to the earth. Elizabeth did not believe he would go to Heaven, because in her mind it no longer existed. God was dead to her. Peter would lie alone under the ground forever.

It wasn't long before their marriage started to fall apart, Walter no longer knew how to talk to Elizabeth, how to reach her. She was a shell of her former self and she did not care.

"You can't keep me out," Walter would plead.

"How could you know my pain?" Elizabeth would scream in her fits of anger, lashing out at Walter. "My son is dead, taken from me."

Walter would hang his head, "He was my son too..."

When Elizabeth saw Peter it wasn't her Peter, but he looked just like him, spoke just like him and she would not let this Peter go. Her Peter. How many times had she cried for just one more minute to hold onto him? She had begged and pleaded for the opportunity to tell him how much Mummy loved him one more time. No, Walter could not let Peter leave her again.

"He is from another dimension, from the other reality," Walter had told her, "he must go back there!" He should never have let Elizabeth see the other Peter.

Shaking her head, Elizabeth had cried out, "No," her hands trembled, "No, you can't take him."

"Think of his parents, how they will feel having lost their son." He had tried reasoning with her, but Walter knew in his heart he could not take Peter away. Walternate would never know where his Peter had gone...

Everything had been better then, at least for awhile, but eventually Walter was drawn further and further into his work. Elizabeth and Peter were left alone more and more. Then, one day, Walter was gone, taken. The accident had destroyed not just one life, but all of their lives.

Once her husband was gone, Elizabeth realized how much she had held him responsible for their situation. He had taken Peter and not returned him. The guilt she had been shifting to him came crashing down on her alone. They had stolen a child from his family. She had stolen another Peter and raised him as her own son.

"You forgot me," Peter whispered; cold, hollow eyes boring into his mother, bringing her out of her deep thoughts.

She shook her head vigorously. "You were my son, I'd never forget you." She extended her arms, offering them to her son in a hug. "I love you."

Peter did not move. "You never came to see me," he stated as he pushed his toy car around on the floor. "You promised you would."

Elizabeth lowered her arms and wrapped them around herself. She could not deny this; she hadn't once brought flowers to her son's grave.

Peter's gaze moved from his toy to the pictures on the table tops and walls. Pictures that showed him but that weren't quite right. They showed him older, growing, doing things he had never had the chance to do in life. "You replaced me."

Tears escaped Elizabeth's eyes and trailed down her face, dripping from her chin. She could offer no denial.

"Mom?" A voice broke through her deep thoughts. Peter, grown and healthy, a young teenager, stood in the doorway to the living room. "Everything ok?"

Finding his mother hurriedly whispering and sobbing to herself had become more and more common. Ever since his father had been sent away, deemed mentally unfit to stand trial for the accident that shattered Peter's world, his mother had been cracking.

"Oh yes Peter," Elizabeth answered, though she never broke eye contact with the younger Peter on the floor. She didn't expect him to see her ghosts.

As Peter left the living room, Elizabeth had one thought: Walter's good intentions had led her to this hell and she didn't know how much longer she could stand it.


End file.
